Gotta thank you. That was hilarious, but it was also the thing that finally made me realize:
ATM = "At The Mineshaft"
That had been bugging me for months.
During my time commenting here, I have found that my already meager ability to leave low-hanging fruit on the tree has dwindled to almost nothing.
he started laughing, so it turned out OK, but for a second there I was like, holy fuck, I can't believe I just said that.
good night, all!
2: I have to censor "RTFM" and other deep intellectual insights from my working day emails on a regular basis. However, my ability to get distracted by following links has increased greatly.
For example, I'm now hung up on the Version 2.0 and 2.1 picture on your site. Shouldn't they be Versions 2.0 and 3.0? I mean, it's not as if you cloned 2.0 and just tweaked the code a bit for 2.1.
No, their kids will be Version 3.x.
See, this is one of the things that scare me about coupled life. The have-another-couple-over-for capital-D dinner thing. I realize they can be good (as this one seems to have been), but I've had really bad luck. I particularly hate the vibe I get sometimes from the other woman, that she's trying to set her man up with guy-friends, him having either forsaken his, or never having had any in the first place.
I really like hanging out with other couples, and I really hate having other couples over for capital-D Dinner. If I took the initiative, I might be able to arrange some uncapitalized event with another couple, but I fear it just wouldn't work out that way. No matter what I planned, everyone would start worrying about making enough food, or being a gracious enough guest, and before you know it, the evening is capitalized.
Another oddity of the capital-D Dinner: twice now we have been invited to dinner with a few other couples and one apparantly single guy. Each time, it turns out that the apparantly single guy is gay and has a long-term live-in partner. And I think: why isn't your partner here? I can't believe the host (and this has happened with two different hosts) would be so intolerant as to not invite a partner they knew about. Did they not know about the partner? Was the guest uncomfortable bringing a same sex partner to a party where they wouldn't know everyone? Was the other partner just busy?
Yeah, (speaking from late twenties here), seeing a group of unmarried childless people who were chill and goofy and laid back the day before turn into dishwashing-concerned tablecloth-laying not-drinking-too-much Adults was kind of creepy. It really felt like people were trying to play house.
Occasionally it's good, though. But it usually takes something random or unexpected to break up the feeling of excess structure.
Then again, maybe I'm being juvenile, and I need to appreciate the chance to practice adult skills.
Not-drinking-too-much is a skill that many juveniles would do well to master.
9: I think it's a function of learning how to do the couple thing and playing house in a relaxed way. My Ex used to get into a dither the day before and the whole experience was always uncomfortable. Decades later, with a new hostess, it's no big deal except for my realization, every time, of how different and better it is now.
One of the advantages of aging is grasping the truth of (and I paraphrase 'cause I can't find the exact quote) "Few things are very important and most things aren't important at all".
I find it extraordinarily odd to think of regular, even assiduous dish-doing or using a tablecloth as bizarre and foreign Adult activites. Perhaps I am overly domesticated (I don't actually believe this, however).
foxes are not domesticable. Shrubs otoh are the most domestic of plants. (I think I am going to start thinking of you as Redfox Tailshrub.)
7: My hidden agenda is usually trying to find someone we can swap babysitting nights with.
I usually find having coupled-up friends over for dinner is a great excuse to drink far too much :) Tend to only do it with people we know well though! We had my partner's boss (and partner) for dinner last weekend - our kids insisted on eating with us as they were so curious, but fortunately they were on a mission to impress and succeeded. That wasn't a drink too much evening.
Shit, used a fucking smiley! That'll teach me for having too much wine whilst out for an early evening meal en famille. Going to have more wine now, will come back when I can be trusted not to embarrass myself with cute emoticons.
Dish-doing (not a good example, was actually thinking of an insistent guest) and tableclothes and not-drinking-too-much are just fine. I just don't dig on the friends-playing-house vibe, or rather, getting into a Dither when people are just there to eat and drink and chill and be social, and don't care how it's done. If you can pull it off in a relaxed way, fine.
my partner's boss (and partner)
Your partner's boss is also their partner? What a complicated life you lead!
Asilon could just be saying that she is the boss of her partner, and they had themselves over to dine. The mechanics are simpler.
Your partner's boss is also his or her partner? What a complicated life you lead!
Of the Great Snoring Tailshrubs?
Only your partner knows for sure. And your freshman year roommate. And everybody she complained to about the snoring, as well, come to think of it.
Yeah, sorry that didn't make sense. Blame the wine. My partner's boss, who is also his friend (I left that out of the first comment as I thought it was too complicated), brought his girlfriend here for dinner with us. Inviting ourselves for dinner would have been easier, though would have meant even more leftovers than there were. I always cook too much, exacerbated that night by being convinced all day that there were 10 people for dinner, rather than 8. I like cooking when I don't have to, not that I'm that any sort of expert, and I do love having people here. So that's an open invitation to anyone who's near enough. Though you'd probably be better off going to ttaM's, he sounds like a far more fancy chef than me.
I like having other couples over for Dinner -- I like the showoffy aspects of feeding people (in the event that I, rather than Buck, cook), and I like the combination of drinking and domesticity: the background rattle of everyone's kids doing god alone knows what so long as no one's crying and nothing gets broken, and they aren't bothering us.
1: The first time I saw "ATM" here I tried looking it up at UrbanDictionary.com.
"At the Mineshaft" is not the #1 definition. It's much worse.
"At the Mineshaft" is not the #1 definition. It's much worse.
Strangely, the Urban Dictionary leaves out the tweak on "anything that moves" that refers to the preferences of bisexuals [and the former magazine of the same name]. Just more of that evil prejudice against those who merely seek to double their chances of a date on Friday night. [w/ack. to Woody Allen]
Off the subject, but relevant to mineshafts...
A call is going out to donate to Mike Jones, the male escort who outed Ted Haggard for the raving hypocrite he is - Dan Savage has an article in The Stranger re: the matter, with instructions on whom to PayPal. Even Karl Rove acknowledged that the voting public was concerned about "corruption" - Mike's revelations probably turned some voters. Of course, now that he's high-profile, Jones has to give up his livelihood lest he be arrested, so he's kind of in that blew-the-whistle/lost-the-job position. Send him a thank you note, preferably with a dead president on its face.
re: 23
I'm not really a fancy chef at all. I *can* cook fancy food but only when the mood takes me (which isn't often). Last time I cooked a proper pre-planned dinner for friends was years ago and I went totally over the top with vegetarian Indian food. Hours and hours of cooking for a result only marginally better than phoning for a takeaway.
I'm much more likely to do the 'let's all come back to my place' thing after going to the pub, which means knocking up some rice from what's in the fridge -- paella or risotto, or curry or something. I like cooking while mildly drunk.
I used to share a flat with a chef for a while and he used to produce the most amazing food -- mostly south-east asian 'fusion' cooking -- when he was drunk.
I find it extraordinarily odd to think of regular, even assiduous dish-doing or using a tablecloth as bizarre and foreign Adult activites. Perhaps I am overly domesticated (I don't actually believe this, however).
This seems like an odd pair of things. Dish-doing is essential after every meal, unless you use nothing but disposable dishes or eat from a trough. Tablecloths are completely ornamental, and as such, are only used when company calls -- like candles, or wine.
oops, too much contrarianism, not enough italics. I blame the new server.
foxes are not domesticable
National Geographic says I'm wrong. So, I'm wrong.
"At the Mineshaft" is not the #1 definition
Is it even one of the definitions listed at all? If so Unfogged has a greater pop culture currency than I would have imagined. Or is there some non-Unfogged source for ATM=="At the Mineshaft"?
(Oh and, cute domesticated fox puppies!)
domesticated fox puppies "kits"
Dish-doing is essential after every meal
No, it is only essential after you've run out of dishes.
That comment took a few minutes to post, fyi.
If you've run out of dishes, how can you do them?
Run out of clean ones, that is. Once dirty, as they are no longer in usable form, they cease to be "dishes" (in the practical sense) and become "clutter".
I'm much more likely to do the 'let's all come back to my place' thing after going to the pub, which means knocking up some
bonny lasses.
(I can't believe no one else took a swing at that one.)
To be more accurate, dish-dong is essential EVENTUALLY after every meal. It can take place weeks or months later, but if dishes are used, dish-doing is the coda that must follow. Tablecloths, however...if every tablecloth on the planet was called up to heaven someday, nobody would suffer.
dish-dong
Maybe that's what AWB's fella is suffering from. I always heard it referred to as "dishpan dong", though.
The cure, of course, is to dip it in yogurt.
Of course! The answer is to stop incorporating all that hot soapy water into their lovemaking, or at least give him one of thos e condoms made from thick yellow rubber.
Ahhh! You have Daiso where you live? I love the Daisos in Taipei where I am right now. Everything there is so cute and un-nasty, unlike most other stores in that price range. I usually come back with a lot of shit I don't need...um, I mean I never realized I needed.